NPG Thursday, October 13, 2016 Autumn has moved in with comfortable temperatures. James and
two really lovely couples started the tour and though James had to leave, the
others were so interested that we ran a lot overtime.
My usual 11:00 A.M. tour. I picked that time years ago, thinking that the 12:30 time
was before people had lunch and would be hungry and grumpy and not interested
in the tour. It also did not buck the traffic going to either the NY Yankees or
the Mets which made traffic from New Jersey even worse. Apparently there has
not been a comparison of times and visitor turnout on tours, but that would be
interesting to learn.
I like to leave for the Garden early so that if the traffic
takes four times longer than it could that I would still be on time for my
tour. And I am compulsive about
checking out what's blooming and listing all the plants, hoping to go through
the whole NPG before my tour.
Today I was met near the clock by Lisa Sifre, Sandy W. and James
Vickers. Therefore I will have to
do more from memory.
The corner as you approach the NPG is still colorful,
especially the deep purple Asters, Symphotricon novae-angliae 'Marina Wolkonsky." I have opposed
planting cultivars and hybrids in the Native Plant Garden, but the first year
that "Marina" was there they were blooming after all the native
asters were gone and I could see a reason to have the plants with quotes around
their names. The following year
'Marina' did not come back, but the Garden was persistent and they are back in
force. You can identify the
cultivar and hybrids by their signs that include quote signs or sometimes an X.
Still at that front corner, the pink Hibiscus and two species of Phlox, Asters, Goldenrod and Sunflowers make the approach attractive. The photos are regrettably small for clear identification but
if you need a larger photo, please email me and I will send one to you.
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| Phlox |
Once, awhile ago, I wrote an article for the docent newsletter
entitled, "What do you say when there is nothing to see?" Though still a lot to see today, it was
a day to include the sense of smell.
The Stonemountain Mint and Horsebalm: rub and sniff. The mint is available much of the year;
the Collinsonia is at its peak of
fragrance now. Said to be "Horses'
Ben Gay," I really enjoy the aroma.
And, tea can be brewed from its leaves.
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| Horsebalm Collinsonia |
Though Michael Hagen, Curator of the Native Plant and Rock
Gardens, had told me, to my dismay, that the Garden was not going to plant White Snake Root Eupatorium rugosum, and though I brought
a plant from my own home garden to show visitors, the opportunist (as Joel
calls it) is visible in at least five spots in the NPG. What I am doing at home where there is
an excessive amount of it, is cutting it back BEFORE it goes to seed, which
works to decrease next year's presence. I say the story about this plant
killing Lincoln's mother still rates as the one that most widens the eyes and
gets exclamations from visitors.
Isn't their entertainment why we're there?
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| White Snakeroot |
Though it is hard to see in the photo, right in
the middle of it is Closed Gentian,
surprising me because I just must have missed the blue flower before. If several are already dried, that proves
it. It is in the area of the Franklin Tree with your back to the
water feature.
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| Closed Gentian |
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| Franklin Tree |
Don't forget to look over the edges of the boardwalk as you turn in the direction of Split Rock with the water feature on your left, or you
could miss
Meadow Beauty. I just checked and see that it
is not written up in my NPG book that is available online but never got published. I
remember identifying
Rhexia virginica many
years ago along a trail in Central Park, but it was not on the original draft
list for the new 2013 NPG. There are a number of species of
Rhexia that have a
distinctive urn-shaped fruit that Thoreau once compared to a little cream
pitcher. It likes to grow in wet sands but it doesn't know how to read, so it
has moved from the water side of the boardwalk to the other side in the direction
of the Rock Garden.
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| Meadow Beauty |
Ladies Tresses Spiranthes cernua are surprisingly
abundant, and spreading on their own to many places, even away from the damper
areas. Growing in the water,
Pickerelweed
Pontederia cordata with its arrow-shaped
leaves coming to a point, in the water, is easy to miss. Their seeds can be
eaten like nuts (hip boots, anyone?) and lucky we don't have deer, who eat
them, in the NYBG.
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| Pickerelweed |
Sometimes the tubes of the
Pitcher Plants are less visible for visitors to see, but now they
are showing themselves, maybe looking for the insects to visit.
I have rarely seen insects hovering in
that area, but one today; I couldn't bear to see it fall in to be digested.
I've heard people say they don't favor the
Oakleaf Hydrangea, but they attract the
eye for a long season.
White blossoms and then brown dry ones
I think are good looking.
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| summer blooming Oakleaf Hydrangea |
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| Oakleaf Hydrangea now |
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| Oakleaf Hydranges autumn |
The
Ilex verticellata,
both the
Winterberry with its red
berries (native) and the
‘Winter Gold’
(not) with its orange ones will often have visitors asking for identification. The
books differ on what birds eat them, but having watched a gorgeous Winterberry,
especially in the snow, in the old NPG, it seemed to be that it was a food of
last resort.
Maybe colorblind
people can't tell the difference between the red and the orange.
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| Ilex red berries |
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| Ilex orange berries |
This is certainly grass season, with the fascinating different and delicate and beautiful seedheads. Ferns are worth looking at this season, and it's fun to check out the ones with sori.
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| sori |
Goldenrod species
are numerous, at least 72 species in North America. The full inflorescence, Solidago canadense, I learned from Jody
Payne, former curator.
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| Solidago canadense |
We have had Goldenrods
in the NPG: Autumn, Blue-stemmed, Early, Gray, Narrow-leaved, Stiff, Zig-Zag,
Here are some photos; who can differentiate them? I have trouble remembering which is which, and I would be
impressed with myself if I reeled off the right name, but just calling them goldenrods
will generally suffice for visitors.
I repeat the fact, and still get surprised responses, that it is not
Goldenrod that causes allergies.
Ragweed is more the guilty party and the explanation I have been told is
that Goldenrod seeds are heavy and drop to the ground, whereas Ragweed’s fly
about in the air.
That spectacular bloom, Spigelia
marilandica, Pink Root, is, sadly, pretty much gone,
but where the steps are set into the Gravel Lok, there is still one sample.
Plymouth Rose Gentian Sabatia
kennedyana has also jumped from the water-side of the boardwalk (like
Meadow Beauty) to the other side, some lovely delicate blooms with pink edges,
then white, and yellow centers still blooming. Dana (1900) reported that the inhabitants of Plymouth,
Massachusetts were convinced that the Pilgrims of 1620 named the plant after
the Sabbath, the holy day on which they first saw the flower.
In that same area, a bright green-leaved and fresh-looking
yellow flower, can still be seen, Globeflower Troilius
laxus. It must be another illiterate flower that doesn’t read that it is
supposed to bloom in June, but lucky for us.
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| Globeflower |
True, it is aster time, and some individual beauties, but I found Heath Asters Symphyotrichum
ericoides among the Cacti Opuntia
much more widespread and robust than previous years. Look carefully here and
you may see the Italian Wall Lizards.
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| Aster |
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| Heath Aster |
Black Cohosh Actea racemosa still
to be found, and
Vernonia New York Ironweed back at the entrance
to be seen both entering and leaving the Native Plant Garden.
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| Black Cohosh |
To me, a true autumn scene with asters and goldenrod.
Lots more thoughts about how aster looks as it is ready to send its seeds into the wind, and azalea buds look so ready that its hard to believe they will wait until spring.
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| Azalea as it looks now |
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| Aster's fuzzy seed stage |
I plan to go back to the September 2016 tours to add some of the many photos I took. This one grabbed at least 12 hours so I will think about that ambition.
I'm always grateful for any comments to improve or correct.
